NEW DELHI: India continues to remain amongst the top 10 nations when it comes to doping violations as per the latest report of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
The samples on which the report is based were collected in 2016.
The country has had 69 anti-doping rule violations (ADRV), the same as that of Russia, which has been under international scrutiny for years now, PTI reports.
Italy topped the rankings of drug cases in 2016, accounting for 147 ADRVs, followed by France (86), United States (76), Australia (75), Belgium (73). Brazil and Iran are at joint eighth with 55 ADRVs while South Africa is at 10th with 50.
However, the number of offenders in India has reduced since the country was ranked 3rd in the list between 2013-2015. A total of 117 sportspersons were punished in 2015, after testing positive for banned substances.
Yet, India has a lot of work to do in this aspect as the trend of sports which are mostly under the scanner in the issue of doping, remain the same.
Athletics has 21 offenders, expectedly followed by weightlifting and powerlifting with 14 each. Kabaddi has nine dope offenders while wrestling contributed five. Aquatics, bodybuilding, handball (university), para-athletics, taekwondo and volleyball contributed one each to make it a total count of 69.
“I am happy that the number of doping violations has decreased and our position has improved though we need to do even more,” National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) DG Navin Agarwal told the newswire.
“Our concerted effort has started showing results. We have been focusing at school and college levels and we are doing a lot of awareness and educative programmes. We have a zero tolerance on doping and athletes at a young age should know that he or she cannot escape with doping. He or she will be caught at some stage,” Agarwal added.
NADA tested 2831 samples during the year under review, PTI reports.
